Mining Exploration - 3000m Underground in a Gold Mine

Gold mining. What an incredible experience to have actually gone down a gold mine and seen with my own eyes where this precious metal comes from. Here is my account of the incredible journey to the very end of the deepest single barrel mineshaft in the world.

Permission was organized for me to take two photographers 3000m underground to get some photos of the diamond core drilling machinery and see first hand how mining exploration is done. We had to go through an induction process where safety issues and regulations were addressed. Then a vigorous sign in process followed by special permissions for the cameras and a special burning permission for the flashes as they represent an explosion hazard.

Once inside we introduced to the exploration drilling team who were going to take us underground to document their operation and get some footage of their drills. We were taken to a visitors room with rows of lockers and mining equipment, after changing into white overhauls with white gum-boots we were handed our mining safety gear and set off towards the mine shaft.

The cage was quite big in terms of elevators in fact it was the biggest one that I have ever seen. Dusty and windy would be the best way for me to describe the walk up the stares towards the cage. I was starting to get a revelation of how extreme this job actually is. I am not sure of the numbers but there must have been between 60 and 70 miners in the line to the cage. My first thought were it's going to take ages to get all these guys 3 kilometers underground. To my surprise and after some pushing and a little more pushing everybody was in! I couldn't move at all.

The drop was intense, moving at a speed of 19m per second it seemed to take ages to get to the end of the rope. Maybe this was due to the draft, noise or the fact that I was wedged in-between a group of miners plummeting away from any chance of getting out alive if anything went wrong. The atmosphere in the cage was to my surprise up beat and friendly with the miners chatting away and joking about rugby and other South African pastimes.

When we came to a halt and the doors opened the men pouring out of the lift reminded me of a large animal breathing out after holding its breath. We poured out into a grey, concreted tunnel that was well lit and had a series of turnstiles leading off into more grey tunnels. The temperature here was quite pleasant with lots of ventilation, for now I was comfortable.

After about 500 meters of walking we got to an intersection where there was a yellow train waiting for us. One doesn't realize how huge the mines are but in actual fact they are massive and cover huge ground. The train ride must have been a good 20 minutes long and when we stopped there was another 500 meter walk up to a ski lift like the ones they use to transport people up the ski slopes. This ride was about 5 minutes long then we got to the next lift.

Another drop of 1000 meters later and we were pouring out of the lift again. This time the climate was different! Not pleasant at all, well ventilated with good air but that last kilometer changed a lot in terms of the temperature. At this depth it is incredibly hot and humid. Worst of all we had to walk for ages to get to the drills that do the machines that do the drilling.

Once there, we had 30 minutes to get the photos we needed and start the long trip back to the surface. The machines were awesome. We got our photos and headed towards the surface, very excited and pleased to have been this far underground and lived of course

Please visit mining exploration if you would like to see photos from this shoot.

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